


Blood Sport

by Glory_Of_Mars



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Abigail Hobbs Lives, Adopted Abigail Hobbs, Everyone Is Alive For Now, F/F, Football | Soccer, Gay, M/M, gay soccer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:22:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26022610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glory_Of_Mars/pseuds/Glory_Of_Mars
Summary: Hannibal, Abigail, and Will decide to play a game of soccer. Little do they know that this game will change the course of their lives.
Relationships: Alana Bloom/Margot Verger, Jimmy Price/Brian Zeller, Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Blood Sport

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I may be Brasilian but I know fuck all about soccer culture. What I do know about ,however, is how to be gay and think about sweaty people running around in shorts. Enjoy, this is my gift to the world. Edit: I cried while making this and was indeed listening to love crime near the end. It's a comedy! Netflix Hannibal season four or bust.

Will and Hannibal sat across from each other in Hannibal’s living room.

Hannibal sipped sanguinely at his Tea de fromage, a specialty from Paris, a city that he would not be able to return to for some time. Not because of murder, but rather a serious of parking tickets for blocking the bike lane with his motorcycle. The murder he hadn’t been caught for yet, so no concern from authorities there. But The Paris department de la Justice took their bike lane rules seriously enough to charge ridiculous prices for infractions.

Will was fucking around with a book that he had pulled from Hannibal's shelf about Chinese armys and waging war. (No not that book). He struggled to see how Hannibal could read such dense text.

“Hannibal?”  
“Yes, Will?” He answered, not looking away from his own book.  
“Do books like this really interest you? Topics on war, I mean.”   
“Mildly, it does not hurt to think of the art of violence on a larger scale. Have you gotten to my favorite section in the book yet? It is concerning King Ho Lu and two beheaded generals.”

Will leaned back in his seat and furrowed his brows.   
“No, no. I’m stuck on this description of this mindless game called Tsu’Chu. I don’t really know why this is in here. It says the soldiers used to play it between battles.” He finished with a wry smile, like he had said something clever, which he had not. Especially not on this topic.

Hannibal looked up and gave Will a smirk.  
“Tsu’Chu was actually thought to be the first iteration of what we would consider modern futbol, Will.” He said with pretentious pleasure.

Will scoffed and stood to place the book back on the shelf.  
“So basically what I said. They were playing a mindless game.”  
Hannibal cocked his head.  
“What makes you consider futbol a mindless game, Will?”

“It’s just a passing back and forth of balls from one goal to another. It’s not exactly rocket science, Hannibal. Just a way to pass the time with friends.”

Hannibal blinked.

“There is much more than that, that goes into a game of futbol. There is a very particular structure to every round. The plays can get rather complicated, not unlike a game of chess.”

“Never more complicated that I couldn’t follow it as a kid.” Will shrugged.

“Very well. I have a proposal then.” Hannibal said, rising and picking up his jacket from the armchair.  
“We have a game of futbol. I will show you exactly how precise of a game it can be.”

Will squinted at Lecter. This was bound to be a trap, as any invitation to play a game with Hannibal was. Monopoly night hadn’t been without its casualties.   
But this was soccer. Something physical that Will thought he might be able to figure out an edge in.   
Before he could say anything however, the pair’s adopted daughter walked in. Texting away in a comfy sweater, Abigail stopped when she saw the tension hanging in the room as her dads stared each other down.   
Hannibal did not miss a beat.  
“Abigail! Would you like to play a friendly game of futbol with us?”

“You mean soccer?”  
“Yes.”  
Abigail threw a glance at Will for approval and he gave her a carefully measured nod.

“Okay.” She replied  
Hannibal looked at Will with smiling eyes that indicated that he was now hopelessly roped into this game.  
\-------  
Hannibal stood in the park, soccer ball underarm, proudly overlooking the makeshift field they had made together. Will and Abigail had found some sticks from nearby trees to mark center field and each of the goals so they had a rough outline to play in.

Will took in the sight of his murder husband. He wore a loose pair of black shorts that showed off his legs well and a tricolor yellow, green, and red jersey. The back of which had the name LECTER 00 as if he were a signed player. The spotless black and white cleats completed the look of someone who belonged on the cover of WorldSoccer magazine. It looked far from the Hannibal Lecter that Will knew and love-hated but still it seemed like Hannibal was in his element, which was not comforting Graham at all. 

The cannibal had kept his old uniform from his younger years and was surprised to feel that it still fit so well. He took that as a good omen. Not that he needed omens of any sort. Looking over to Will, who had opted to wear a pair of cargo shorts and a t-shirt, made him almost feel sorry for the poor Graham cracker. 

Abigail wore comfortable sports shorts and a camo tank top that was of course was strategic. Couldn’t stop her from getting the ball if no one could see her!

A storm loomed in the southern sky.

The three met in center field. It had been discussed on the car ride over, after much pouting, that since Will had gotten to pick the radio music, a mix of Bob Dylan and Don McLean, then Hannibal would get to pick the team setup. Abigail knew as well as Will that it was a Faustian bargain.

“Abigail? You will be on Will’s team as a handicap.” Lector pronounced.

“Wait, as a handicap? Hannibal, exactly how much soccer have you played recently?” Will protested.

“Oh, not much at all. But, I have viewed a fair amount of European and South American leagues.” Hannibal said languidly, allowing the ball to drop to the ground.

Dr. Lector backed up from the ball and stood at ready, arms behind his back politely. 

Will stared daggers at the man. This was a trap, and there was no way out. No way out but to play this man’s sick game.

“Please, go ahead, Will. I’ll allow you to give the starting kick.” Hannibal said with a pleased smile.

Will gulped and gave Abigail a nod.  
He kicked the ball as hard as he could and sent the ball flying off the field and into traffic, where it was promptly taken away by a passing semi. 

Hannibal took a second before looking back to Will. Who didn’t look away from the traffic, as he did not want to see the disappointment in either of the other two’s faces.   
Abigail tried to figure out whether or not the ball had stayed in the street or really been taken by the semi. But alas, the effort was in vain.  
“I’ll get another from the car.” Hannibal said flatly, trotting off towards the parking lot.

Five minutes later the new ball was set up in front of Abigail instead. 

Hannibal watched her with much more kindness than he had afforded Will.

“Now, strength isn’t the only factor when it comes to playing futbola, dear. Take care to remember that.” Hannibal cooed. 

Will flipped him off when he was sure that Abigail wouldn’t see. Abigail knew by Lecter’s happy expression. 

Abigail gave the ball a light punt and brought it forward a few steps. Hannibal gave her a bit of space and ran backwards with a wider smile.

“Very good, Abigail! Now try passing it to your father!” 

Abigail smiled and thought that maybe this could be a nice outing with her dads after all. Maybe Hannibal really was just interested in teaching them how to play soccer. Abigail passed the ball to Will as he jogged up next to her and Hannibal descended on him like a bird of prey. 

He kicked the ball away from him in one clean movement, dribbled it down the field in a moment before Will could process and launched the ball into the goal.

Will turned in shock but then again, was it really shock? He knew this was coming.   
Abigail turned and smiled. Yeah, no, he wasn’t going to teach them anything.

Hannibal beamed a smile back at Will and the grumpy profiler couldn’t help but reciprocate a smaller one of his own. Even if his husband was an asshole, he could at least appreciate the dedication he had to proving him wrong about pointless things like this.

Hannibal retrieved the ball and jogged it back to them.

“Right, so you want to get ice cream or something now?” Will suggested.

Hannibal cocked his head and squinted at him.   
“Absolutely not. We’ve only just begun, my dear William and Abigail.”

Will’s face fell.   
“Uh, no. You’re obviously way more familiar with this game than we are.”

“Yeah, it’d be unfair for us to keep playing you.” Abigail added. 

Hannibal gave a low chuckle and moved a strand of Abigail’s hair behind her hair lovingly.

“You’ll find that many elements of both futbola and life are not fair, darling.” He said menacingly.

Abigail’s face fell at that too. 

“Enough chit-chat. Let’s play.” Hannibal announced with new vigor, heading back to center and placing the ball there.

The process repeated itself over and over and over. The storm overhead had gained speed and now the sky above the field left the air feeling heavy and shrouded in a gray darkness. 

Hannibal was unstoppable on the field and he ravaged the opposing team, for in the heat of futbol, that’s all Abigail and Will were to him, his opponents. Again and again he stopped the pair of them from ever advancing more than a few steps from center-field and ended the round promptly with a goal. Demanding another round until Will was left sweaty and tired and Abigail had a tough time catching her breath between rounds. Will had lost count of the number of rounds after 15 and could feel his brown hair sticking to his forehead with the mix of humidity and sweat. 

Hannibal had worked up something of a sweat, after all, his age had caught up to him. But he was largely unscathed in comparison to the dirt that had built up around Will and Abigail’s legs from having the ball kicked out from under them. 

Finally, when Will saw Abigail doubled over and clutching her legs for support in between one of the rounds, he knew he had to put a stop to this madness.

“Hannibal! We can’t keep doing this! You need to stop!”

Hannibal rounded around center-field with the ball once more and regarded Will with amusement.

“William, this is for your own growth. I only want you and Abigail to appreciate this sport in all its raw glory.” 

“Okay! We get the point! Soccer-” Hannibal shot Will a look. “-Uh, Futbol is a good sport, okay? You don’t need to torture us to make us recognize that!”

“I find that hands-on learning works well for both of you.” 

“Hannibal, please. Just give me the car keys, and we can go home. I’ll let you choose the music AND dinner tonight!” Will begged.

Abigail groaned. “I was supposed to have the aux, dad! You promised me that I’d get to play 100 Gecs on the way back! I don’t want to listen to his classical bs!”

“Abigail, I’m very hurt by those words. But you should know by now, after all those times that Will promised that he wouldn’t bring another dog home, that only one of us is beholden to his promises.” Hannibal said.

A clap of thunder sounded overhead.

“We will go home, after one more game, Will.” Hannibal said afterwards.

Will smiled with relief “Oh thank go-”

“Of course, I’ll need you two to agree on who you’d like on your team for this final game.” Hannibal continued.

“Wha-” Will began before he saw the crowd approaching from the parking lot.

Jack Crawford, leading a posse of Alana, Beverly Katz, Jimmy, Brian, Dr. Chilton, Margot Verger, Chiyoh, Tier, and Dolarhyde approached them. Everyone was dressed in varying degrees of shorts and t-shirts. Except for Dr. Chilton who was dressed for a game of golf.

The details all became clear to Will. When Hannibal had gone back to the car to fetch another ball, he had made a phone call. He had summoned all their co-workers, acquaintances, and enemies to play soccer with them. The bastard! 

Hannibal saw the cogs turning in his beloved’s head.   
“Will, I simply couldn’t let you and Abigail go after you kicked that ball into the traffic. You demonstrated that a firmer hand was needed for your education.” Hannibal explained.

Will wiped his brow of sweat, mainly achieving the spreading of it all over his face. He would face this final challenge from Hannibal. He couldn’t let him win, not now. Not now that Abigail was paying for his mistakes. He wouldn’t be able to live with the grief.

“We’ll play. But if we win, you’re going to be walking the dogs for a week.”  
Will said, raising the stakes further.

Hannibal gave the slightest of smiles and nodded. 

Abigail let out a sigh of exasperation and wished for a moment that her dads weren’t such complete dumb asses. 

Some time later, the teams had been decided. Will Graham had chosen Abigail, Alana, Dr. Chilton, Margot, Beverly, and Chiyoh. 

Hannibal had selected Jack Crawford, Tier, Bedalia, Dolarhyde, Jimmy, and Brian.

Alana had assured Will that he owed her and Margot for this little excursion because they had to cancel a weekend at the Bahamas for this.

Dr. Chilton attempted to join and make friendly conversation and for that, Will made him the goalie.   
Chiyoh and Beverly were on defense and that left Alana, Will, Abigail, and Margo for offense on team “FBI 2”. 

On the opposite side, Hannibal kept Jack Crawford near him on offense with Tier and Bedalia. He didn’t dare separate Jimmy and Brian, who’s teamwork was crucial to their team’s defense. And to guard the goal, he had cruelly left a dragon for Will’s team to confront. Dolarhyde sat at the goal and plucked strands of grass, laying in wait like the demon he was. He ate the strands of grass like the demon was. And then continued grazing… Like the demon, he might be.  
Team “Contrapposto” was ready.

Hannibal and Will stood in a face off. Tension high before the game began. “First to three?” Hannibal Suggested.  
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Will said.

“All right! Let's have a fair and clean game, people!” Jack Announced loudly, before blowing his little referee whistle. 

Hannibal’s eyes lit up with a thirst that Will recognized instantly: bloodlust. But Will had a plan.  
He firmly placed his foot on the ball and clasped Hannibal’s face with his hands. He looked longly into Hannibal’s eyes, causing the predator to freeze up for a fatal moment before Will shoved him to the ground and kicked the ball to Abigail who was already positioned in waiting.

Jack, who’s announcement had apparently been ignored, was still in shock as Abigail passed him, Will going around the other way. Will decked Tier as Abigail passed back to him, allowing her to elbow Bedalia before the ball returned to her. 

The two avoided Jimmy and Brian, who were not useful in such a rushed play, before Abigail shot the ball clean into the goal, flying over Dolarhyde’s head. 

Will whooped and Abigail cheered as they embraced for their first successful goal against Hannibal’s forces.   
Hannibal gathered himself from the ground darkly. 

“That was a dirty play, Will.” He called from center field. To which Will shrugged happily. 

1-0

Graham was enjoying the walk back to center-field as much as he could. He knew that was a tactic they could only use once. 

The rain began to drizzle over the field. 

The next play went swiftly. 

Hannibal passed the ball to Jack, who was surprisingly fast and was able to make short work of the field after Bedalia and Hannibal blocked Alana and Margot from him.   
Will and Abigail had frozen midfield and so with Dr. Chilton cowering at the goal line, Chiyoh was the only one who stood in Jack’s way. 

“Let him through, if you’d please. “ Hannibal called over the field and Chiyoh promptly obliged, betraying her team.

Jack scored a corner goal, sparing Dr. Chilton the bother of blocking.

1-1

After a small regroup, the game continued. 

This round went just as quickly, with Hannibal weaving his way through team FBI 2, simply to see if he could and scoring an easy goal as Chilton dodged the ball as it headed in. 

1-2

It was looking a little bleak. 

Will tried a risky move this round. Instead of passing the ball forward, he kicked it backwards and blocked Hannibal himself. 

Alana picked up the ball behind him and moved it forward as Abigail and Margo dealt with Tier and Bedalia.   
She saw Jimmy and Brian approaching and yelled “Corpse!” at a spot off-field, which distracted them plenty. 

She shot her goal and narrowly made it past the dragon’s talons as he launched upwards towards the ball. 

2-2

The rain was heavier over the field and as the ball returned to mid-field. 

Hannibal’s blond hair was slick over his face and he was glowering at Will with an admiration only he could cultivate in such an intense moment as this.  
“You’ve changed, Will. I’ve changed you once again. But have you made enough progress to spare your honor on this field?” He hissed.

Will returned his own look of relentless determination. His blue eyes shimmered in Hannibal’s vision.   
“You’re incorrigible, Dr. Lecter. Sick.” He replied.  
Will kicked the ball, grappling with Hannibal for control. Hannibal kicked hard at his shins, leaving bruises that would mark their time on the field. As Hannibal continued striking Will passed the ball to Abigail with a painful groan. 

Abigail took the ball and saw Hannibal switch his gaze to her. She only had so much time to take it down the field before he caught her.   
Margo ran ahead to block Bedalia and Will disengaged with Hannibal to run forward as well. Hannibal was gaining on Abigail quickly, so she diverted Jack’s oncoming momentum and swung him into her father. This bought her enough time to run up to Jimmy and Brian, who surrounded her quickly.   
Behind her, Hannibal pushed Jack to the ground and a sickening snap was heard as Jack yelled and landed on something important. 

The cannibal was swiftly finding his way to her but Abigail passed through Brian and Jimmy’s feet, to Will, who had maneuvered around them. 

Will caught the ball and in a moment of painstaking joy, punted it with all his strength towards the goal. 

Everyone on the field froze. 

The ball stopped dead in the air. 

Dolarhyde smiled as he held the sphere in his claws. 

“Everyone, on side!” Hannibal ordered. 

Will watched the movement in slow motion as Dolarhyde raised the ball and launched it to Hannibal, whom Will also watched in that slow, serendipitous moment, as the doctor bounced the ball off of his head and sent it towards his goal. 

Team Contropposto coalesced onto Team FBI 2 without mercy. All of Will’s team members were mobbed.  
The field was a cacophony of violence. Jack Crawford lay in the field screaming, mud flew over all players as the rain poured and thunder crashed, sending reverberations across the dark sky.

Hannibal dribbled the ball through the torrent towards Dr. Chilton, but not without Will trailing closely behind. He had broken into a full yell and was sprinting with all of his might to tackle Lecter. 

Dr. Chilton found his courage in Will’s desperate yells, as he straightened up to protect as much of the goal as he could.

Will lunged for Hannibal, but he had already begun his bicycle kick. 

The black, slick, cleats made contact with the ball and it was launched towards Dr. Chilton’s fragile head.

His head exploded upon contact and the ball fell into the goal, gore covered and gleaming with blood, water, and mud. 

Chilton’s body collapsed as the thunder made a final rip across the sky.

2-3 Game.

Hannibal and Will collapsed upon each other. Pieces of Chilton landed upon them as they arose holding each other and breathing heavily in the pouring torrent. They were covered in scrapes and bruises from the brutal game and shared this moment of collapse with each other. Holding each other tightly, as if the field would at any moment collapse and fall into an uncaring void. Hannibal wiped the dirt away from Will’s eyes so that he could look upon him. The two beheld each other in all their beastly form, feeling blood pulsing, and the feelings of lust burrowed within their heaving bodies. Will weakly smiled, and Hannibal chuckled. Both men could have been crying, their tears lost in the rain, and no one would know. 

Abigail walked up to them.  
“Can I please listen to one hundred gecs in the car, dad?” 

Hannibal gazed at Will a moment longer before turning to Abigail with a blissful smile and a gleam in his eyes.   
“Of course. I’m very proud of both of you today. We’ve all gained something very special on this field. A deeper understanding of the honor in futbola, in the pain and life that goes into this game. You may listen to your hundred geckos on the ride home.” He turned to caress Will, who was letting out his own feelings of relief still. “I’ll make stromboli a la gamberetto tonight. And we’ll watch Breaking bad, like we always do.” He said gently, bringing Will’s head under his chin.

Groans of pain rose from the field as they left in their Hyundai, ready to return home, finally free of the vicious game.


End file.
